North end – Spectacle of the circus, freak show, Punch and Judy – all related to the ‘theatrical’ history of the place. The cold, dark, graffiti, barred south end felt hostile, something trying to escape, grab.

South end – An odd calm, warmth, cleanliness, family bedroom, felt in use.

Alley location will be used to form one of the first chapters in my proposed book. Mapping, signs, film, soundscapes to follow. Similar treatments will be given to a series of environments.

Maps

“Maps are an accepted part of everyday life and, for most people, they are simply a graphic representation of space, regardless of whether they deal with road systems, populations, or natural features of the landscape. They become embedded in society as an unquestioned truth a reality- they have become territory. However, the territory, its inhabitants and their behaviours are inevitably more complex than conventional maps illustrate.”

All quoted from the book “Visual Research: An Introduction to Research Methodologies in Graphic Design By Ian Noble and Russell Bestley.

Alison Barnes – November 18, 2011

Research – Alison Barnes “maps of new basford in Nottingham”

Roland Barthes – Mythologies – 1957

Taken from ‘The lost Continent’ chapter –

Section is about how a documentary called ‘The lost Continent’ depicts a group of explorers’ journey to the ‘East’: depriving it of history, economic or social status, sanitizing it for Western eyes – romanticizes the explorers and what they find. Barthes goes on to say –

‘the exoticism here shows well its fundamental justification, which is to deny any identification by history. A little ‘situating’, as superficial as possible, supplies the necessary alibi and exempts one from accounting for the situation in depth. Faced with anything foreign, the Established Order knows only two types of behavior, which are both mutilating: either to acknowledge it as a Punch and Judy show, or to defuse it as a pure reflection of the West, In any case, the main thing is to deprive it of its history.’ [p103]

Although not explicitly linked to my Punch and Judy image, the way we are feed news, both domestic and international, all current social commentary and political opinion has a degree of ‘separation’ about it.

We are often simply ‘watching’. Barthes’ Punch and Judy mythology can be applied to Guy Debord’s ‘spectacular’ experience, and to our contemporary experience of the ‘spectacle’.

Punch and Judy, although now an established children’s entertainment show, involves varying degrees of violence, beating with sticks, hangings, and the ‘losing’ of babies, the manipulation of the characters and their actions, thoughts and morals, the encouragement for ‘audience participation’ whose opinions and wishes are ultimately, of course, impotent. So it seems an appropriate signifier of not only the obvious theatrical history of the alley, but as a metaphor for our current benign separation from the ‘real’ and our present-day ‘spectacular’ experience of current affairs, ethics and morals.

Intro – Toys – work in progress.

Pop up book – based on a London Sightseeing book, traditionally used for children’s storybooks or ‘places of interest’ has been re-appropriated to display ‘alternative’ places of interest.

Dolls House has been ‘urbanised’, the exploitation of the ‘perfect’ house, life, conventional, aspiration.

Toys will form another chapter of book. More images, mapping, film, soundscapes to follow.

Roland Barthes – Mythologies – 1957

Taken from ‘Toys’ chapter –

one could not find a better illustration of the fact that the adult sees the child as another self. All the toys one commonly sees are essentially a microcosm of the adult world; they are all reduced copies of human objects, as if in the eyes of the public the child was, all told, nothing but a smaller man, to whom objects must be supplied of his own size.

Invented forms are very rare: a few sets of blocks, which appeal to the spirit of do-it-yourself, are the only ones which offer dynamic forms. As for the others, toys always mean something, and this something is always entirely socialized, constituted by the myths or the techniques of modern adult life.’

Welcome to Pine Point – Interactive documentary.

Intro – An exemplar manifestation of Psychogeography:

‘A multimedia portrait of the disappeared Canadian mining settlement of Pine Point by one of its former residents.

The town was built in the 1960s, but closed down with the mine when the stocks of zinc and lead ore ran out in the late 1980s: literally torn down and wiped off the map. It existed exactly long enough for one generation to live there. The documentary made by Michael Simons, who grew up in the vicinity of Pine Point, and Paul Shoebridge about this former town revolves around memories and the objects that keep these alive.

Archetypal ways of dealing with your own past are examined through the cases of four former inhabitants. Kimberley Feodoroff, alias Kim Kastle, was the “beauty” who was always destined to leave the town, while brothers Lyle and Wayne Hryniuk were doomed to work down in the mine. Then there’s former bully Richard Cloutier, who turned out to be the custodian of the town’s collective memory. The makers tell their story in text – the project started out as an idea for a book – with a collage of material from and about Pine Point in the background: photos and home movies made by residents, newspaper clippings, excerpts from diaries, and yearbooks from the high school.’

The fact that the town has physically been ‘erased’ facilities the ultimate exploration of memories and emotional attachment to the locations and environments. And of course the present landscape of ‘nothing’ has its own, new inherent psychogeographical history and fresh formed contexts. The extended use of the historical cine film, photos, printed artifacts, badges, memorabilia, sound recordings along with newly collated relocations, life stories and sentiments of their experiences and memories creates an immersive narrative through not only time but nostalgia and loss.

Very much of interest to me is its use of multimedia and its attempt to allow the viewer to pick their own narrative path. The interactive narrative is semi-successful as the viewer can choose what elements to skip, watch, explore and the sections can be watched in any order. However the sections don’t necessarily work in ‘any order’ and although the film is interactive on many levels, it has a definite prescribed order

Intro – George Shaw – Coventry born artist, Turner prize nominee 2011

‘If there is a soundtrack playing behind Shaw’s compositions of the returned-to terrain of his 1980s adolescence it is the Specials’ “Ghost Town”. He finds traces of human occupation in his excavation of this recent past, like the shades of scrubbed-out graffiti on an end-of-terrace wall, but mostly this place is as emptied of life as Pompeii. He chooses his angles carefully. The places he dwells on, like his past itself, are boarded up and closed down to him. In the brick-built lock-ups of The Resurface even the ingrained child’s-bike landscape of puddles and potholes, the gravelly contours of empty Sunday afternoons foregrounded in much of Shaw’s painting, has been Tarmac-ed over.

Elsewhere, he can get only as close to the boxy houses of a new cul-de-sac as the wonky builders’ fencing and rutted brownfield no man’s land will allow. In The Assumption, his old primary school may have been razed but the gates remain stubbornly locked – one strut pulled out of true by some forgotten accident – along with the vestiges of the “Keep Clear” sign on the road.’

Tim Adams The Observer, Sunday 23 October 2011

Similarly to to the Welcome to Pine-Point, Shaw’s work encapsulates his specific psychogeographical links to these tired, some abandoned, some still in use, but all deteriorating spaces. His use of Humbrol enamel paint, used by young model-makers, also represents a link to his childhood; a certain time and space, whilst offering a heavy, glutinous, dark, oppressively thick finish. The mostly urban landscapes he paints are clearly environments he has specific links to, and through his revisiting of the spaces he is actively exploring his and his family/friends’ psychogeographical contacts. His attachment is real, genuine and authoritative.

Intro – New York Street Advertising Takeover

First and foremost the NYSAT projects targeted a single company called NPA City Outdoor, otherwise known as Contest Promotions. Here at PublicAdCampaign we oppose all outdoor advertising in public spaces, legal and illegal, as it alters the physical and psychological landscape of our shared environment for the worse, treating us as self-interested consumers.

My project will utilize billboards: exploiting video and image manipulation, the project will explore, play with and map the use, locations and ‘spectacular’ messages displayed. This particular NY project combines ‘political’ activism with the Situationists’ ‘constructing of situations’. The modifying of the billboards use, if only short lived, along with the pure ‘artistic’ expression, rather than all predictable politicised messages, alters the environment, not only challenging the passerby to acknowledge it [and the fact its not what it is supposed to be, or was yesterday] but also challenges the constant appropriation of every inch of free, street space for consumerism.

Intro – First Things First (1964 & 2000) – Ken Garland

Ken Garland is notable as a British graphic designer, author and game designer. Garland established Ken Garland Associates in 1962.

Garland studied design at London’s Central School of Arts and Crafts in the early 1950s (at a time when Alan Fletcher and other later-prominent designers were also students). In November 1963 Garland authored the First Things First manifesto which advocated “in favour of the more useful and more lasting forms of communication” over the increasing overuse of design talent in advertising.

…

The manifesto was signed by 21 others. In January 1964, the manifesto was reprinted by Tony Benn in his column in The Guardian. As a result, Garland was invited onto the BBC to read a section of the manifesto. The manifesto was subsequently reprinted by many design publications in Britain and later internationally. In the spirit of Garland’s 1964 manifesto, a prominent group of 23 designers, including Garland, produced and signed the First Things First 2000 manifesto.

In addition to his output in graphic design, Garland has produced many articles for design publications. He is the author of the 1994 book, Mr. Beck’s Underground Map. The University of Reading published a collection of Garland’s writings as A Word in Your Eye In 2001 Baseline produced a collection of Garland’s photography as a book called Metaphors.

Ref – Wikipedia

First Things First Manifesto – 1964

We, the undersigned, are graphic designers, photographers and students who have been brought up in a world in which the techniques and apparatus of advertising have persistently been presented to us as the most lucrative, effective and desirable means of using our talents. We have been bombarded with publications devoted to this belief, applauding the work of those who have flogged their skill and imagination to sell such things as:

By far the greatest effort of those working in the advertising industry is wasted on these trivial purposes, which contribute little or nothing to our national prosperity.

In common with an increasing number of the general public, we have reached a saturation point at which the high-pitched scream of consumer selling is no more than sheer noise.We think that there are other things more worth using our skill and experience on. There are signs for streets and buildings, books and periodicals, catalogues, instructional manuals, industrial photography, educational aids, films, television features, scientific and industrial publications and all the other media through which we promote our trade, our education, our culture and our greater awareness of the world.

We do not advocate the abolition of high pressure consumer advertising: this is not feasible. Nor do we want to take any of the fun out of life. But we are proposing a reversal of priorities in favour of the more useful and more lasting forms of communication. We hope that our society will tire of gimmick merchants, status salesmen and hidden persuaders, and that the prior call on our skills will be for worthwhile purposes. With this in mind we propose to share our experience and opinions, and to make them available to colleagues, students and others who may be interested.

We, the undersigned, are graphic designers, art directors and visual communicators who have been raised in a world in which the techniques and apparatus of advertising have persistently been presented to us as the most lucrative, effective and desirable use of our talents. Many design teachers and mentors promote this belief; the market rewards it; a tide of books and publications reinforces it.

Encouraged in this direction, designers then apply their skill and imagination to sell dog biscuits, designer coffee, diamonds, detergents, hair gel, cigarettes, credit cards, sneakers, butt toners, light beer and heavy-duty recreational vehicles. Commercial work has always paid the bills, but many graphic designers have now let it become, in large measure, what graphic designers do. This, in turn, is how the world perceives design. The profession‘s time and energy is used up manufacturing demand for things that are inessential at best.

Many of us have grown increasingly uncomfortable with this view of design. Designers who devote their efforts primarily to advertising, marketing and brand development are supporting, and implicitly endorsing, a mental environment so saturated with commercial messages that it is changing the very way citizen-consumers speak, think, feel, respond and interact. To some extent we are all helping draft a reductive and immeasurably harmful code of public discourse.

We propose a reversal of priorities in favor of more useful, lasting and democratic forms of communication – a mindshift away from product marketing and toward the exploration and production of a new kind of meaning. The scope of debate is shrinking; it must expand. Consumerism is running uncontested; it must be challenged by other perspectives expressed, in part, through the visual languages and resources of design.

In 1964, 22 visual communicators signed the original call for our skills to be put to worthwhile use. With the ex- plosive growth of global commercial culture, their message has only grown more urgent. Today, we renew their manifesto in expectation that no more decades will pass before it is taken to heart.

‘We have reached a saturation point at which the high-pitched scream of consumer selling is no more than sheer noise’. This quote from the 2000 manifesto can not only be aligned to Debord’s ‘spectacular’ imagery of consumerism but used as a general statement on the constant stream of slogans, tag lines, corporate logos, redesigns, rebranding, loud adverts, impossibly fast, mind thumping video editing, and the abuse of every music style, art form and register of language to sell goods, an idea, a philosophy, a way of life.

test discourse for book

Red carpet

The ruby red carpet is synonymous these days with the new celebrity fascination that has become a prominent fixture in pop culture. When referring to the term ‘red carpet’, many people instantly think of red carpet awards or red carpet dresses worn by the famous celebrities that strut glamorously down immaculately clean red carpets with people hovering behind them with handheld vacuum cleaners. No one seems exactly sure where the origin and history of red carpets came from but there is some speculation about its heritage.

Like so many aspects of our culture in the present, science states that the evolution of the red carpet rug had its origins way back in ancient Greece and the classic play Agamemnon. The character in the play, Agamemnon is welcomed home by his wife to a huge gathering with a deep purple and red carpet, the colors of the Gods. Agamemnon is arrogant man and the wife plays tribute to him by suggesting he walk all over the Gods by walking on the carpet. Another fable passed down through the years was that the color purple fading to a deep red was the color of high aristocracies and important individuals. Railroad stations also commercialized the color red but in practical functionality to guide and direct passengers to the right location and hotels use the red carpet at the entry point of the entrance to the lobby.

Today, the red carpet has been welcomed by the entertainment industry and is commonly used for a red carpet event like the academy award on the red carpet. There is no functionality associated with the use of the red carpets at these events as we are sure that celebrities are able to navigate their way into a ceremony, well most of them at least. We can see the tie between the ancient Greek origins of the red carpet and how it has evolved into our society today especially in the form of the celebrity culture. With the amount of celebrity red carpet events manufactures best have adequate spare parts vacuum cleaners on hand.

More generally “red carpet treatment” and “rolling out the red carpet”, refer to any special efforts made in the interests of hospitality.

The earliest known reference to walking a red carpet in literature is in the play Agamemnon by Aeschylus, written in 458 BC. When the title character returns from Troy, he is greeted by his vengeful wife Clytemnestra who offers him a red path to walk upon:

“Now my beloved, step down from your chariot, and let not your foot, my lord, touch the Earth. Servants, let there be spread before the house he never expected to see, where Justice leads him in, a crimson path.”

Agamemnon, knowing that only gods walk on such luxury, responds with trepidation:

“I am a mortal, a man; I cannot trample upon these tinted splendors without fear thrown in my path.”

THE DRAMA OF PUNCH AND JUDY

A script by P.F.Tickner Originally written for television and performed in 1937

Enter PUNCH.

PUNCH Hullo, hullo, hullo! Where’s Judy? Judy! Judy! Judy!

(Enter JUDY)

JUDY Hullo, Punch.

PUNCH Hullo, my girl.

JUDY What do you want?

PUNCH I want a little dance. (They dance. She hits him)

JUDY So you want to dance. I’ll find you something better to do than wasting your time up here. I’ll get you the baby to nurse.

PUNCH All right. Get downstairs. (Judy exits and returns with Baby)

JUDY Here he is, and mind you look after him. (Both pull the Baby, exclaiming Give him to me. PUNCH finally gets the baby and hits JUDY with it. JUDY exits)

PUNCH All right, I’ll look after him. Get downstairs. (Takes baby, who is crying. He dances about with it)

PUNCH Stop it. I won’t have it. Oh dear, Oh dear. (Hits baby on side of the proscenium.) Take that – and that – and that. (Throws Baby out of the window)

JUDY You villain! (Takes stick and chases PUNCH round stage, – fixes him against side and hits him on the head) Take that – and that – and that.

PUNCH Give me that stick. (They fight for the stick, each saying to the other “Give it to me.” Securing stick and beating JUDY with it PUNCH says) Take that – and that -and that. That’s the way to give it to ’em (JUDY falls down and PUNCH is very surprised to find that he has killed her.) Judy my girl, I won’t hurt you. Come on. I won’t hurt you. (JUDY does not get up) – Well, take that – and that and that. (Hits her and throws body downstairs) That’s the way to give it ’em.

(CLOWN bobs up)

CLOWN Says you! (bobs down)

PUNCH Who was that?

CLOWN (Bobs up again) Me. (bobs down). –

(CLOWN comes up behind PUNCH, and hits him several times on the back of his head. PUNCH is out to catch him, but CLOWN comes behind him each time crying “Cuckoo.? Here we are!.” Finally PUNCH catches him and fixes him with stick against the side)

PUNCH Now you stop there, then I won’t hurt. you. (PUNCH calls 1 – 2 – 3 and hits, but CLOWN ducks and PUNCH hits side of proscenium)

PUNCH Did you move?

CLOWN No, I did not move. (business repeated)

PUNCH You did move that time.

CLOWN No I did not move. Your stick is not long enough. There is a longer one over there.

PUNCH (looking around) Where?

CLOWN (hitting him on head) There! (CLOWN vanishes downstairs)

PUNCH Joey!

CLOWN (coming up behind) Hallooo. (Vanishes again.)

PUNCH Where is he? (Looking round. Crocodile comes up behind him and bites him)

On dear. Oh dear. (Fights CROCODILE. In the end pushes his stick down its throat)

On he has swallowed my stick. Come on, give it to me. Give it to me. Lets look down your throat. I can see it. (CROCODILE bites PUNCH’S nose and exits)

(Hits CLOWN with stick) That’s 3 dead blokes. (Dances round stage. When his back is turned, CLOWN jumps up and shouts, Pip! Pip! PUNCH turns round quickly, but CLOWN is now back with the other figures, pretending to be dead)

PUNCH What a funny thing. (PUNCH lifts each figure in turn and places them along the front of the stage, one in each corner and one in the middle of the stage. He then counts them) 1 dead bloke, 2 dead blokes.

CLOWN (bobs up) 3 dead blokes. (Bobs down again)

(Looks round the stage and in all the corners and over the front) If I find out who that was I’ll break his neck.

(CLOWN meanwhile jumps up and takes the other two figures below. PUNCH looks round and is surprised to find that they are gone. He looks everywhere, calling ) Joey, Joey, where are you.